Surgical staplers have been used in the prior art to simultaneously make a longitudinal incision in tissue and apply lines of staples on opposing sides of the incision. Such instruments commonly include an end effector having a pair of cooperating jaw members that, if the instrument is intended for endoscopic or laparoscopic applications, are capable of passing through a cannula passageway. One of the jaw members receives a staple cartridge having at least two laterally spaced rows of staples—one on each side of the knife channel. The other jaw member defines an anvil having staple-forming pockets aligned with the rows of staples in the cartridge. The instrument includes a plurality of reciprocating wedges that, when driven distally, pass through openings in the staple cartridge and engage drivers supporting the staples to effect the firing of the staples toward the anvil. Simultaneously, a cutting instrument (or knife) that is drawn distally along the jaw member so that the clamped tissue is cut and fastened (e.g., stapled) at the same time.
An example of a surgical stapler suitable for endoscopic applications is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,000,818 B2, entitled, “Surgical stapling instrument having separate distinct closing and firing systems,” the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. In use, a clinician is able to close the jaw members of the stapler upon tissue to position the tissue prior to firing. Once the clinician has determined that the jaw members are properly gripping tissue, the clinician can then fire the surgical stapler, thereby severing and stapling the tissue. The simultaneous severing and stapling actions avoid complications that may arise when performing such actions sequentially with different surgical tools that respectively only sever or staple.
The prior art also includes endocutters with articulatable end effectors, such as described in published U.S. patent application Pub. No. 2007/0175959, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Such an instrument comprises an articulation control that allows a user (e.g., an operating surgeon) to effect rotation of the end effector about an articulation pivot.
Commonly, a procedure that requires use of such an endocutter requires the operator to undertake several cutting/fastening strokes at a general common location within the patient. Thus, after each cutting/fastening stroke by the instrument, the clinician has to withdraw the instrument through the cannula and replace the now-spent staple cartridge in the end effector. Then the clinician has to reinsert the instrument back through the cannula into the patient and position the end effector again, including articulating the end effector back to the same general position it was in for the prior cutting/fastening stroke.